Denny Crane, Alan Shore, & other Legal Shenanigans

Boston Legal is the best show on television. Period.

Why? What makes one show so good and another so bad? Isn’t it just a subjective thing? Indeed, one could argue that after its first season, Boston Legal was due to be cancelled; therefore it must not be that good. Do ratings make a show good? Just because millions of people park themselves in front of their TV’s on a particular night for a particular show, does it mean that the show with the highest ratings is the best?

The answer, quite frankly, is not a simple yes or no. Of course ratings have something to do with it. And, after all, network TV is a for-profit business. Therefore, if it makes money for the network, then it must be deemed worthy of continued production by the network. Right? Maybe. History is littered with shows that were popular but got the ax, and others that didn’t have the ratings, but stayed on much longer than we all wanted!

Reality shows aside (although they are in direct competition with all other television programming) network TV will succeed on the strength of their comedies and dramas.

There’s an argument that could be made about good writing being the key to a successful show. The artful, poetic ability one person has over another to weave a tale worthy of the greatest of literary authors is truly a gift. But without the actress to deliver the line or emotion in just the right way, that gift may as well be wrapped in a plain brown bag. Acting and writing, you say, together then they must be the keys!

What about the director? Isn’t he the key to it all? If the writing is just so-so, and the acting adequate, can’t the director make up for those faults and still deliver a quality show by choosing the right angle, location, and music? Sometimes.

How many Best Actress Oscar recipients thank their director for making them look just right? All of them. How many Best Director Oscar winners thank their cast? Their writers? All of them. Each and every one of them know that in order to be the best, it takes the perfect blend of writing, acting, directing, music, editing, location, etc. Ultimately, the show will succeed on the basis of its ability to create loveable, believable, characters that stir strong feelings in their audience and allow them to relate to the characters.

Boston Legal is such a blend! The writing is superb. The directing is excellent. The acting transcends performance. And all the other elements add to this symphony of talent to make it a very good show.

But what makes it THE BEST?

One simple word, relationships.

We fell in love with Seinfeld, a show admittedly marketed as a show “about nothing”, because we fell in love with the friendships between Elaine, Jerry, George, and Kramer. We cleared our calendars every week just to witness what would happen with Monica, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross. We cried when we thought Meredith Grey was going to die on Grey’s Anatomy. The list is endless. The actors that portray these characters are forever destined to be referred to, not by their real names, but by the fictional characters they brought to life with such clarity and sincerity that we don’t believe they could be anyone other than that character.

Relationships. Not only do the characters of Boston Legal have relationships with their fellow cast members, but we believe that they share a special relationship with us the viewers as well. This is where Boston Legal excels as a TV show. The relationship the cast shares with us as the viewer is a conscious, actively cultivated relationship. Primarily the relationship between Denny Crane and Alan Shore. Of course with such a huge cast and numerous guest appearances, there are countless relationships that we are treated too as well, but the real message each week comes out through the interactions between Denny and Alan; specifically during the closing few minutes of each show, when Denny & Alan retire to the balcony outside Denny’s office and share their thoughts over cigars and a glass of scotch. It is here where we are treated to the kind of unconditional love, tenderness and honesty that can only exist between two best friends.

The banter shared between Denny and Alan with the audience is unique. They are allowing the viewer a glimpse into their most private thoughts, while at the same time almost winking at the audience as they share in the absurdity of each episode. They are aware of our spying on them each and every episode and they are not afraid to let us know that they know. Denny continually breaks the television “fourth wall”. Denny is constantly making remarks to indicate that he is aware of his status as a character in a television show, particularly in the second and third seasons.

• In the third season episode “Fat Burner”, Denny turns to Alan after the prosecution’s summation and asks, “Why is the other side’s closing argument always so short?”, referring to how the show’s writers only focus on the main characters’ summations.
• Alan greets Denny at the end of one episode with the remark, “Ah, there you are. I’ve hardly seen you this episode.”
• At the end of another “Squid Pro Quo”, when Denny and Alan anticipate what to expect from a sexy new attorney, Marlene Stanger, Denny sums up the situation by saying, “I can’t wait to see her next week.”
• In “BL Los Angeles”, Denny asks Shirley to kiss him, saying, “It’s the Sweeps episode.”
• In the third season episode “New Kids on the Block”, when he was told there were new lawyers in the firm, Denny responded: “Oh, please! If there were new guys they’d have shown up in the season premiere.” Then he welcomed them by saying “Welcome to Boston Legal“, acknowledging the name of the show rather than the name of the fictional firm. He then further breaks the fourth wall by asking to “cue the music.” None of the other characters seem to perceive this as unusual, except for Jeffrey Coho, who seems surprised to hear the show’s theme music and looks around, seemingly for its source.
• Discussing euthanasia with Alan in the episode “Live Big”, Denny says, “I’m tired of my Alzheimer’s being a story point,” to which Alan replies “This isn’t your story, Denny.”
• In the second season finale, Alan remarks to Denny, “I’ll see you next season”, to which Denny replies, “hopefully on the same night.”
• In the episode “The Cancer Man Can”, Denny’s new clamshell phone makes the familiar, yet out of place sound of a Star Trek communicator when opened.
• In the episode “There’s Fire” he asks his new wife Bev, “What am I supposed to do, beam myself to Boston every morning?” (William Shatner’s more famous role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek (not to mention Rene Auberjonois’ role as Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a frequent source of such references.)
• In the episode “Lincoln” Alan says that the trial is on Tuesday at 10:00, which is the show’s normal Eastern Time slot, though the trial presumably started in the morning, rather than 10:00 PM.
• In the episode “Angel of Death”, Denny plays the first few notes of the show’s theme song on his “trombone-kazoo”, in coincidence with the real song playing over the opening credits.
• In the episode “Finding Nimmo”, Alan’s reading a book about the extinction of the North Pacific Salmon noting that “it’s caused by sea-lice called cling-ons. Denny replies “Did you just say Klingons?” which was an alien race in Star Trek.
• In the episode “Gone”, Denny and Alan are talking about Alan defending the man Denny shot with a paintball gun. Denny says, “I wish you had let me in on the game. I can act you know. I won an Emmy,” referring to the Emmy Shatner won for the show.